Heracles vs. AZ - prediction, team news, lineups

AZ Alkmaar make the trip to Heracles on Sunday looking for the win that they require to kick-start their bid to guarantee a European place next season. At a time when the visitors sit in sixth position in the Eredivisie table, Heracles are 10th and very much in the race for the top eight. Despite the solid job that Maarten Martens has done with AZ, they have been prone to putting positive and negative streaks together throughout his reign. Prior to the winter break, five successive wins were recorded in the Eredivisie, a run that was backed up by three further victories in a row in February. However, either side of them, AZ have struggled for wins, and their ongoing five-match run without getting success on the board has left them at risk of missing out on European qualification. After three successive draws that saw seven goals scored and conceded, AZ went down 1-0 to Feyenoord last time out, creating a 10-point deficit to third with six games left. As such, trying to chase down the seven-point gap to fourt